CSotD: Random grumbling and a prize with a nice citation
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One of the recurring topics in comic strips is lead time, but Monty couldn't have placed this one much closer to the mark.
We've finally got some real spring going here in the Connecticut Valley, and yesterday I became aware that now I can have the doors and windows open while I work. It's very nice to have fresh air coming through.
It will be a few weeks before it's warm enough this time of day to listen to the birds waking up and greeting the dawn with their songs while I update the blog.
But it's already that time of year when I can do the work I actually get paid for during the day while listening to the sweet music of lawnmowers, garbage trucks, car alarms, motorcycles, squabbling neighbors and their angel-faced children who seem to think that "playing" and "screaming" are the same thing.
As did my children.
As did I.
Dammit, that's not the point.
Meanwhile, Heavenly Nostrils is a relatively new strip by Dana Simpson, creator of Ozy and Milly, one of the foundational webcomics, which ran from 1998 to 2008 and is now in reruns at GoComics.
Ozy and Millie was a furry comic, and Heavenly Nostrils doesn't stray far from the sweet end of that spectrum, but Simpson — who also produced a political/social commentary panel for a few years — is not above dropping some commentary into the mix.
Today's struck a chord because, first of all, in my other work, I have to contend and compete with a genre I refer to as "adults writing what they think children want," which is precisely how you end up with classes doing plays with names like "Lisa Ladybug and the Lost Lollipop."
The more cloying alliteration and dumbass rhyme you can cram, jam and jackhammer into your work, the better.
And, if that's what kids are offered, that's what kids will come to expect.
I've said before that JK Rowlings' break-through wasn't that she wrote about magic but that she wrote on the assumption that kids were pretty intelligent. Judy Blume built a career on the same basis and I don't think she included a lot of wizards and wands.
Even Captain Kangaroo and Fred Rogers managed, despite their gentle natures, to respect the intelligence of their audiences. In fact, I had a quote from Bob Keeshan in the sig file for my business email for several years: "We have respect for our audience. We operate on the conviction that it is composed of young children of potentially good taste, and that this taste should be developed."
It is decidedly a minority opinion, and school plays are an interesting study in the same.
Senior plays at our school varied between putting on something classic and putting on some crap where everybody gets a part. My older sister's class did "Death Takes a Holiday" and, when it was our turn, I played the Lord High Executioner in "The Mikado."
By contrast, my older brother and only-slightly-old uncle were in some unwatchable everybody-gets-a-part productions, one of which was called (I'm not making this up): "The Funny Brats."
Suffice it to say, they got that half right.
This spring, I was delighted to hear that, despite drastic enrollment cuts due to the closing of both the mine and the paper mill, my old alma mater staged "Bye Bye Birdie." In my day, we had to rope in a few juniors to round out the chorus and a key role or two, and I note that it' s no longer the "senior" play but involves the whole grades 6-12 talent pool.
Good for them, and, no, I don't care what John Simon would have thought of it. For that matter, I'm kind of glad we didn't have video in my day, because I listen to the D'oyly-Carte cast albums and assume that's what we sounded like.
And, anyway, I really doubt anybody goes through life dropping lines from "The Funny Brats" into the conversation.
Speaking of critical acclaim:
I'm not a big fan of awards, but the Pulitzers are significant, and this year's award for editorial cartooning went to Steve Sack. You can see a slideshow of his entries here, as well as his bio and citation and so forth. Clay Bennett and Jeff Darcy were named finalists.
It used to be that the Pulitzer was valued as a shield against budget cuts, but, in recent years, it's too often been one more piece of Lucite to put in the cardboard box before they escort you out of the building. Nice to see, however, that all three awardees this year have staff jobs.
Hell, these days it's nice to see they could find three cartoonists with staff jobs at all.
But there is this to be said for it: The Pulitzer Prize comes with a check for ten grand. I particularly like awards for which the citation begins "Pay to the order of."
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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